I Guess It's Time Again To Talk About What If Steven Stamkos Goes To Toronto
Yesterday hockey twitter rang the alarm and went full hockey twitter after Steven Stamkos “liked” a tweet from TSN about whether or not the Maple Leafs should make quite possibly the biggest offer in hockey history to acquire Stamkos if he becomes an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season. Stamkos and his current $7.5 million contract come off the books come July 1st if he and the Lightning don’t agree on a deal before then. Now the Stamkos to Toronto rumors have been around forever since Stamkos is from nearby Markham, Ontario and the Leafs have the pockets to acquire the superstar. Those rumors, however, never really seem to be anything more than just rumors because there’s just no possible way that the Lightning would let Steven Stamkos just walk away, right? Well… actually maybe wrong.
Steven Stamkos is a top 5 talent in the National Hockey League. Maybe a soft top 5 talent but without a doubt a top 6-7 regardless of who you ask. Over the past 3 seasons, only Alexander Ovechkin has scored more goals per game than he has. He’s an electrifying player and one that can score whenever he decides to (except for during the playoffs last year but whatever). So the fact that it doesn’t even appear that the Lightning and Stamkos are close to making a deal yet already more than a quarter of the way through his contract year is surprising to say the least. Most people just assumed that Stamkos would have been locked up in the summer. I’m sure that nobody thought that he and the Lightning would still be so far away at this point. And with the Lightning just recently giving an extension to head coach Jon Cooper, a coach that doesn’t really seem to value Steven Stamkos as much as the hockey world does, well maybe it’s time to actually consider a world in which Steven Stamkos is no longer playing in Tampa Bay.
The Tampa Bay Lightning aren’t in the greatest spot right now in terms of salary space. They don’t have a ton to work with and they have some names that they’d like to get inked up to extensions soon. The Triplet Line especially. Now the Triplets had a breakout season last year and everyone got a good glimpse of them in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They were probably the best 5 on 5 line in the league and a line that Jon Cooper loves. This year hasn’t been the best showing for them so far as they’ve been banged up and under performing. But even so, you’d have to imagine that the Lightning would want to extend as least 2 of Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat (who is currently on IR) and Nikita Kucherov. Johnson especially is probably going to come with a pay raise.
Then you’ve also got Victor Hedman to worry about whose $4 million deal only has another year left on it after this one. Hedman is budding into one of the best defenseman in the game and $4 million just isn’t going to cut it for him anymore. Sure, you’ve got expendable guys with expiring contracts to work with as well, but it’s not going to be easy to give Steven Stamkos, Tyler Johnson AND Victor Hedman all the money that they want and that they deserve. Stamkos especially.
Obviously if Steven Stamkos were to move (which I still can’t really see but I’m also an idiot), then Toronto would make the most sense. Not only will they have the money the blow, but they’ll find some schiesty backdoor way to get Stamkos everything he wants and them some. Toronto is the team that will put the biggest offer on the table for Steven Stamkos and chances are that’s exactly what he’s waiting for before he signs again in Tampa. He wants to have that bar set by Toronto so he’d be able to use that as leverage to wiggle some more money out of Tampa’s pockets. But I think regardless of what happens, Steven Stamkos is going to get overpaid whether it is by Toronto or if it’s by Tampa or hell, even if it’s by Arizona because that would also be an incredible scenario. But that’s completely fine because Steven Stamkos is the type of guy who you have to overpay for. Sure, he and the rest of the Lightning may be struggling a little right now but he’s still one of the premier talents in the league and if you want a guy like that to be wearing your sweater, you have to reach.
Tampa currently sits in 6th place in the Atlantic and 11th in the eastern conference. They are 25th in the league in goals per game, 27th in shots per game, their special teams stink, the Triplet lines has been banged up and struggling, and they are getting closer to Steven Stamkos packing his bags and leaving becoming a reality. Tough time to be a fan of the Bolts.